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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Faithful Servants

Today
is my oldest sons Birthday. Thirty-one years ago, this month, the year Robert
V. (Bobby) Schuller III was born, I moved to San Juan Capistrano to start a new
church. It was an exciting and challenging time in my life. Only a few months
earlier I had been ordained in the Crystal Cathedral. She had her grand opening
and dedication on Sept. 14 and I was ordained on a Sunday evening on Sept. 21,
1980.

I
thought I would be there for the rest of my life. I was given a large office in
the Tower of Hope, the building with the illuminated 90-foot cross on top. I
was on the Hour of Power every week reading scriptures, offering prayers and
even preaching occasionally. I had started working with my father when I had
returned from Hope College in Holland Michigan in 1976. That year I started
attended Fuller Seminary in Pasadena and we had the ground for the Crystal
Cathedral.

In
1976 my father had been on TV for 6 years. He was the hottest thing going in
religion in America. His church had grown to become one of the largest. People
were standing in the aisles, sitting in their cars or on the lawn watching the
service through the windows. So Phillip Johnson was contracted to design a new
center of worship to accommodate the crowds. The Crystal Cathedral was born. It
was born as an idea of an architect who built an 18-inch model and presented it
to a pastor who had an eye and appreciation for beauty. When Rev. Robert H.
Schuller saw the concept he knew that he had to build it.

This
would be an enormous undertaking. He knew he couldn’t do it alone. So he hired
a fundraiser to assist him with what he knew would be the greatest challenge,
money. This man took him to see the founder of Fleetwood Enterprises, John
Crean and his wife, Donna. They all met in a rundown office in a warehouse on
his 90-acre ranch in San Juan Capistrano. Meeting for the first time, my father
shared a model of an idea that would change the world.

To
make a long story short, John and Donna Crean became the first $1,000,000 donors
to the church and without them the Crystal Cathedral would not have been built.
Six years later I met John and Donna in another rundown office in one of their
factories and asked them to donate their Ranch in San Juan Capistrano where I
spent 20 years building a church, a school, and a retreat center.

Because
of their enormous generosity and love for Jesus Christ, untold millions of
people and charities have flourished. John passed away in 2007 and was buried
on the Cathedral Campus. This week Donna passed away and joined her husband in
their special place for eternity.

Thank
you Lord for John and Donna Crean and for everything they have done for so
many. They were good and faithful servants.

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ABOUT PASTOR ROBERT

Robert Anthony Schuller is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, a New York Times best-selling author, keynote/motivational speaker, businessman and transitional leadership coach. He, along with his wife Donna, is the co-founder of Robert Schuller Ministries. He is regularly seen on national stages, at prayer breakfasts, representing various companies, and frequently travels internationally advocating world peace, with The Global Peace Foundation. For nearly 25 years Pastor Schuller has helped people seek recovery from drugs and/or alcohol, highlighted in his book published in 1993, "Dump Your Hang-Ups Without Dumping Them On Others." For as long as the weekly program has been on the air, cable and Internet, he has been seen on the "Hour of Power" which once had an audience of 20-30 million worldwide each week. He previously served as Senior Pastor of The Crystal Cathedral.